Out of the ordinary

Club puts best foot forward on high-wheel bikes

A sandlot baseball game. Ice cream and lemonade. A bicycle ride to a lakefront picnic.

Those icons of summer were as popular 100 years ago as they are today. What can be surprising, however, is seeing someone pedaling to a picnic on the type of bike used more than a century ago.

"Bicycling was a huge societal thing back around the turn of the last century," said Carey Williams, captain of the Illinois division of the Wheelmen, an organization dedicated to antique bicycles and preserving the heritage of American bicycling. "It was looked on as the thing to do. People all over the country were spending summer Sundays going on picnics and riding bicycles. These days, in the city, when we do bike rides with the Critical Mass [a monthly ride], it's not uncommon for there to be a few of these high-wheel antiques on the rides."

The Wheelmen, founded in 1967 in Brandywine, Pa.,, embraces the historical spirit of bicycling, with 1,200 members in chapters in 40 states, Canada, Japan, Australia, South Africa and several European countries.

Riders from the non-profit organization add old-fashioned ambiance to parades, participate at historic events and re-create old-time picnics and balls. Yearly, they get together to ride, play games, swap information and share their love of antique bikes.

"The interest in the old bicycles never died," Williams said. "They've always been used in parades. Clowns would ride on them. People would drag them out and decorate them with flowers. The Wheelmen organization was founded by Dana McNair, who wanted to promote the antique bike as an interest and to provide a network for parts and restoration. The group has grown mainly by word of mouth."

A recent meet in Elgin drew approximately 250 Wheelmen. Several rode their high-wheel bikes there from around the country.

Steve Stevens rode 1,129 miles from Golden, Colo., in nine days. "My best day was 175 miles. I had a nice tailwind. My shortest day was about 85 miles," Stevens said. "I did all country roads. You can't exactly ride on the shoulder of the interstate. But people love it. Everyone that passed me in a car waved and smiled."

Patrick Capper, of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, also took nine days to ride 500 miles to Elgin--not counting ferry rides--with a five other riders. "We took the back roads and ferries," he said. "We averaged probably 11 miles per hour."

The high-wheel bicycle came to be in 1871. Manufacturers believed that the bigger front wheel would mean a faster bike. Its predecessors include a "running machine" device that originated in Germany in 1817 (known as the "dandy horse" because it was modeled after a child's toy horse with wheels). The running machine did not have pedals, but the velocipede, a wood and wagon-wheel contraption built in France in 1865, did. Following the popularity of the high-wheel bike in the 1870s, a bicycle that looks similar to the present-day model was introduced in the 1890s.

"They call these high-wheel bikes the `ordinaries,' because they were the ordinary bicycles at the time the later model with the smaller wheels came out," said Stevens. "They called the later models the `safety bicycles,' because they were safe, and the `ordinaries' were not."

The "ordinary" has a high and forward center of gravity and involves pedaling on a steered wheel. When the wheel turns, the pedals move with it. "Downhills are treacherous," said Stevens, "because the center of gravity is so high. When you stop the wheel, if you're not careful, you can go flying over the top."

Though you can't coast on an ordinary, the main scope of the danger is the high position and center of gravity. If anything happens, the rider has very little control in getting off the bike without falling. Falls over the top were common in attempt to brake and stop.

A rider's height determined the size of the front wheel. Wheel measurements ranged from 42 to 64 inches.

Despite the danger factor, Wheelmen range from octogenarians to children barely old enough to have graduated from tricycles.

"I got into riding high-wheel bikes after I retired," said Nolan Bay, 82, of Springfield, Mo. "I did a cross-country trip in 1984, from San Francisco to Boston. I got on that bicycle, and I never got off. It keeps me in shape."

Events at this year's Wheelmen meet included group rides (the longest of which was 100 miles), a swap meet and flea market, trick-riding demonstrations and competitions, participation in the annual Milwaukee circus parade and a ladies' Victorian tea.

Seven riders competed in the trick-riding competition.

Under the scrutiny of a panel of three riders and in front of 400 spectators, trick riders were judged on a 2 1/2-minute free-form ride--whatever the rider wanted to do--and a five-trick contest.